Have to sit in the back?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else have to sit in the back of the room/class/meeting/theater/whatever? I tend to get distracted by everything that everyone else is doing, but I find that it is far worse when it’s happening in my peripheral vision or even worse behind me. I just have to know what’s happening, what people are doing, see their faces to judge their moods. If I’m in the middle of the room, I’ll spend the whole time twisting around to see everyone else. When I’m in the back, I can scan the whole room more quickly and easily. Granted, I’m still distracted by all this, but in the back it’s much easier and more discrete to survey the room from time to time. In the front, I spend so much time thinking about what’s going on in the room, and twisting and turning, that I find I’m far less engaged. I missed a surprising amount of Immortals by running a bit later than is advisable on opening night and sitting in the front of the auditorium. Hear a snicker, have to check it out. See a light, have to find who’s texting. Etc, etc. Same thing in lectures, in the classes I took in high school, in meetings at the office, even on my occasional visits to churches. Ignoring the distractions, well, heh, that’s just not an option, as I’m sure y’all know. So much easier to just accept it, sit in the back of the room, and follow the distractions in a few seconds instead of a few minutes.

Does anyone else do this or am I just the odd man out on this? I just hear about seating the students with ADHD in the front and thinking that would drive me up the wall, not sure if this is just one of those variable things for some, or if I’m just paranoid or something.

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[Anonymous]

YES, me too. The other problem I have is that I have to read lips and see the person talking or I can’t focus in on their voice.

I’ve been to the opera, hockey and baseball games (given tickets), and in all cases, I was more interested/distracted by the surroundings and the crowd, and couldn’t pay attention to the music or the games. It’s a good thing that movies play in a darkened auditorium or I would never be able to pay attention (I often fall asleep, though, that’s another issue).

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[Patte Rosebank]

I’ve always had to sit right in the front row, dead-centre. It’s the only way I can really focus on what’s going on, without being distracted by all the other people between me and the stage / teacher / professor.

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[laddybug3]

I wonder why my IEP back in high school stated that I must sit in the front of classroom. I sadly got it answered in my physiology class. The physiology class had this big project of doing things differently. So the professor put me in the back of the class. After three weeks of not turning in my assignment, no note taking (taking notes would help me pay attention to the class), watching wildlife out the window, counting the lights in the classroom, humming, even calling people on my cellphone, my professor wrote on my test to see her some time this week, which I forgot to study for. She stated that if I kept this up I would get an F. Normally, she would continue this project until the end of the semester. She thought it was unfair for me to fail because of my seat arrangement.

The next week she noticed and I noticed a change in my behavior and my homework. Turned in the project write up in time. I got a C and knew I would have gotten a B. Hey, missing three weeks of home was huge. She let me do as many assignments as possible.

I try to sit in front, because if I can’t see you then I am most likely not paying attention.

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